a newbie story of frustration

[thoefen]

Hey all,

I should start by saying that this is a great site and have gotten tons of useful information out these pages. Some of you may have read my posts before:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270623&highlight=
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270859&highlight=
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=270623&highlight=

Basically, I bought my father a Toshiba SD-5970 DVD player for Xmas to view homemade movies I am making him of his new granddaughter. To make an even longer story short I have tried everything under the sun to get a DVD-R to play on his Toshiba DVD player. I tried using Pinnacle+MyDVD and/or Sony Vegas Movie Studio+Sony DVD Architect Studio and/or DvixtoDVD plus all of the above. I have tried different combinations of these as well. I have tried Philips, Fuji and Taiyo Yuden DVD-R's at write speeds of 1X, 2X, 4X and 8X. I have tried making movies with menus and without menus. I have tried everything I can think of. I have spent way more money then I had intended.

Today I called Toshiba to see what they had to say. Of coarse they gave me the run around. They said that their DVD player does play DVD-R's but because of all of the combinations of media and software they couldn't guarantee that their player could play a DVD-R and they couldn't recommend any combination. They told me the Taiyo Yuden discs should work and that I should try and buy some 2X discs (I don't know if they even make 2X anymore?). They were willing to try and replace the old unit with a new unit but I don't think that is the problem. The DVD player does play regular DVD's without a problem. Then I tried to call Dell about the problem thinking that maybe it was my Philips DVD8631 burner on my brand new Dell Dimension XPS. Of coarse they said that it wasn't the burner because the discs I burned played on my panasonic DVD player and my computer. They offered to help me out with my "software/Toshiba problem" for a fee. I didn't do it.

I have been so frustrated by the entire thing that I don't even know where to go from here!! I decided to take one of my home videos burned on a Taiyo Yuden DVD-R down to Best Buy and plug it into a Toshiba SD-5970 player to see if it was my Dad's player or if all players have the same problem. I was in luck. They had the Toshiba SD-5970 and the SD-5980 on the shelf. I inserted my disc into both players and neither recognized the DVD-R. Now I am really upset. I had read good reviews on this DVD player and the manual says that it does read DVD-R's. So then I decide to insert the DVD-R into every DVD player in the store that had power. I tried DVD players made by Sony, Panasonic, LG, Insignia, Samsung, JVC and Philips. Guess what?? The DVD-R worked in every player except for the 2 Toshiba players!!! I have had Toshiba DVD players in the past and have never had a problem with them but now I will never buy another Toshiba DVD player. Does anyone have any idea why the DVD-R plays in every other type of DVD player but not the Toshiba ones? I talked to one of the employees at Best Buy and he talked to the manager and thought that my Dad may be able to exchange the DVD player at the Best Buy in NY based on my story but "every store has their own policies." I still can't even remotely think of a reason why Toshiba DVD players are so different. My brother has a Toshiba SD-K741 and the DVD-R's won't play in his DVD player either. Yet his $50 APEX DVD player that he bought a few years back plays it just fine. I might just return my $600 camcorder, my $2500 new Dell computer, my Dad's $200 Toshiba DVD player, my brothers ~$150 Toshiba player, my $100 Sony Vegas software, my $200 worth of Taiyo Yuden/Philips/Fuji discs and my piece of mind and just get my Dad a whole bunch of plane tickets to come see his granddaughter in person!! Thanks you all for your input. I couldn't figure out the problem but at least we tried.


Todd

[Pisces225]

I'm sorry to hear you've had such problems... I would have yanked my hair out long before you did, bravo.

However, you've definately figured out the problem... namely their DVD players. If it has been less than 30 days since the purchase of the player from Best Buy they definately should refund your money, especially if you'd be willing to accept it as store credit towards one of the models you've checked there in the store and you know for sure from first hand experience plays your burnt discs. At that point you've guaranteed yourself having this issue resolved, at least unless your new unit is defective.

For all you invested it would really be wise to hit Best Buy and trade that bad boy in for a diff. model, even if you have to chip in an extra $25 bucks or something to get a good model you know works. The only way you can "lose" now is if, after investing all this time, effort, money and aggravation, you give up.

[redwudz]

Sorry for your trouble, but I think you answered the question. Trade that sucker in. If Best Buy will exchange (Good for them, then), do it.

[thecoalman]

and just get my Dad a whole bunch of plane tickets to come see his granddaughter in person!!

Excellent idea. Keep the camcorder though.

[manono]

You're not the only one to have had problems with the player not playing DVD-R:

https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDname=SD-5970+&Submit=Search&Search=Search&c...y=Name&hits=25

Have you tried DVD+R? One guy that reports no-go on the DVD-R, can play DVD+R on his. But Toshiba is notorious in this regard. I'm with the rest; demand your money back since it doesn't perform as advertised.

[disturbed1]

My friend has the same player. Works just fine for us. To be honest, it sounds more like an authoring, and or burning error to me. Toshiba sticks pretty close to the specs.

My friends Toshiba has serious issues with DVDs that are not spec compliant. Our success and failures below -

DVD-author based programs (DVD Author GUI, DVDStyler) -
skips at every nav pack.

TMPG DVD Author -
Some issues, if you attempt to join more than one video, the Toshiba has issues where TDA switches VOB IDs.

ReelDVD -
Won't load. Reel DVD does not create a VIDEO_TS.VOB file. There are a few players that fail to load discs when this file isn't included.

MPEG Audio - won't load

WAV/PCM Audio - Skips

MPEG1 video - loses track of the video position.

What has worked -

ProCoder and HC Mpeg encoded streams
TMPEG AC3 encoder
DVD Maestro, Spruce UP, and Muxman to author.
Image creation with, Maestro, IFO Edit, Primo DVD.
Burning app - Primo DVD, DVD Decrypter.
Discs - Taiyo Yuden, Maxell, CMC, Optodisc, DVD-R

I've read your other posts, Vegas Movie Studio does not use AC3, this could be your problem. NTSC needs AC3 or PCM. However the Toshiba didn't like my PCM. Find a DVD compient AC3 encoder. I won't comment on MyDVD